Back At It

In the past few weeks I’ve been to cycle classes, athletic conditioning and kettle bells. Classes that left me sore for days. My desire to breathe heavy and sweat hard is back!! I’m very glad. While I will always enjoy low intensity exercise, there is something magical about the high intensity stuff that leaves you high on endorphins.

There are several reasons why this change might have occurred:

Encouragement From Friends. Mazen shifted down to one nap, which means I have the morning hours to go to the gym. We are in a great routine of meeting some of our friends there and while Mazen gets his workout going up and down the slide in the Kids Zone, my friends and I sweat together. This camaraderie has pushed me to try new classes I might otherwise have been too shy to attend. Once I step in the door I have no choice but to push myself to match the intensity of the class. And once I get going, I enjoy it!

Weaning. But deep down, I think this new energy has to do with weaning. I am still breastfeeding once per day first thing in the morning, but in the past month I cut out 3 of our 4 daily feedings. That’s a lot of milk that I am no longer producing. I feel like both my mind and body have changed hormonally, so it makes sense that a hormone shift might explain my desire to exercise hard again.

Time. Lastly, I also had some friends (and some of you!) tell me that around the one year mark you started to feel normal again. Perhaps it has just taken 12 months to recover from the hardest physical event of my life.

Whether it’s one or all of the above (or just some random coincidence) I am feeling more like my old self than ever.

Such a good feeling to be back to yourself! I recall the weaning, I totally can relate. Once I was basically done nursing, I slowly felt more “myself”. As much as I exercised before my son was born, it was all a memory when he was a newborn and toddler. Between the nursing and taking care of him and pushing that stroller all day long, it was enough exercise and calorie burn at the time – I couldn’t handle anymore and he was my workout.

Woo congrats to getting the workout motivation and energy! You look very happy to be back to the exercising again. Good for you – and great that you took the time to take care of yourself and got back in when it felt right rather than hit it hard early when you weren’t ready.

Yay!! lovely you could breastfeed for a year and over. Actually one feed a day at this age is more than enough to keep protecting your baby with your antibodies and give him that special cuddly moment. I breastfed both my kids for two and a half years, and the most beautiful feeds really were after the first year. Also brilliant to know you are training hard again!

That’s exciting! Something does change around the one year mark. But I have to say, maybe it’s the entrance into toddlerhood, but i seemed to have lost it again around the 16 month mark. Maybe it’s because it takes so much more mental energy as the little ones start destroying the house. Take it while you can! And hope you can keep it going through the 16 month hurdle too! Keep that momentum going!

Congrats on getting your energy back! Has Mazen always done well in the child care at your gym? I have a 14 month old daughter and we tried to go again today to the gym childcare and she cried the entire hour, uhhh! I would love to get into a normal routine and take her with me all the time but it is really hard to do knowing she gets so upset. Interestingly it just seems to be the gym bc at home she has had several different babysitters and has always done well with them. Any tips appreciated!

Thanks for sharing this, Kath! So encouraging to read about another mama getting more and more back into the groove of caring for herself (I’m trying to figure this out, as well, with a 10 month old on board!).

Yep– it totally just takes time. I had the SAME issues after giving birth– just wanted to do lots of walking, yoga, etc. And then, after about a year, my desire to do harder, longer workouts kicked back in, totally. And now that my daughter is almost 19 months old, I’m training for my first marathon! Amazing how far you can go if you just listen to your body, right?! Glad you’re getting back in it!

So glad you’re energy is back! I have highs and lows too, and I just go with it and change up my exercise routine depending on my energy levels. I think listening to what your body needs at that time is the best way to treat it right!

I have a question for you. You’ve mentioned you want to wait a while to have a second baby, but if you had made the decision to have another baby within the next year or so would what is discussed in this post change your mind?

I am wondering because it must take a lot out of you to get your body back to pre baby. Does it make you hesitate to do it all over again? I will be having to make these decisions in a few years.

I’m not quite sure I understand your question. Given what I know about pregnancy and childbirth though I am excited to do it again. But I want to wait until I’m really ready. Like taking a break between college and grad school gave me a super dose of enthusiasm.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. My experience was similar. Yeah, I struggled and ran and stuff, but when I had weaned — stuff changed dramatically. It totally made me feel like ME again in all those sorts of regards.

My experience was exactly the same! Something about the little guy turning one couple with weaning from nursing and I suddenly felt new-found energy! I was beginning to think I would just never feel the same as I had before, but now that he is almost two, I think I actually have more workout energy. Whether its because I put more in because the time is more precious or I’m just more on a schedule, its a great thing!

This post came at a perfect time! I seem to have lost some of my enthusiasm for those tough workouts and even though I’m sleeping well (10 mnth old), I still feel tired. Thanks for the encouragement! I’ll hope I’m more back to ‘me’ with weaning too.